Inclusion Criteria:Inclusion criteria: 8-15 year old obese children (BMI &#8805; 95th percentile on the 2000 CDC BMI reference) on the date of randomization. Our standard Stanford Pediatric Weight Control Program eligibility criteria will apply: both child and parent/guardian must want to join, both child and at least one parent/guardian must agree to attend sessions, and must agree to not miss more than 2 consecutive sessions. As we interested in testing generalizable strategies for weight control in diverse populations, the eligibility criteria are designed to be liberal, to maximize the generalizability of the results, but also maintain the internal validity of the test of the intervention.